Holiday shopping is on everyone’s mind. All e-commerce players stand to gain. Here are 4 charts that compare eBay and Amazon’s performance. I would like you to take a look at them and provide your comments on which one is a better company, and why.

Hands down Amazon wins! Why? eBay has created an environment of distrust between its sellers and buyers. The dicotomy between buyers and sellers culminated May 19, 2008 when eBay set forth its “No negative feedback” policy whereby sellers are unable to leave negative feedback for buyers. Conversely buyers have the leg up in that they can leave positive, neutral or negative feedback for sellers. Incidentally, neutral feedback counts the same as negative, which is just another way that eBay is tipping the scales in favor of buyers and forsaking sellers.

Amazon on the other hand has embraced buyers and sellers alike! Many buyers barely know that they are buying outside of Amazon — that’s because Amazon has done a fan-tabulous job of co-branding. This leverages high marks for Trust and Safety between buyers and sellers! Personalized recommendations is a wonderful cross-sell tool that buyers certainly appreciate too. And having ONE listing for items that have different sizes or color options simplifies the experience for all. eBay only recently made modifications to play “catch up” to Amazon. Another key feature on Amazon is that it has a shopping cart and wish list — buyers on eBay often inadvertently make purchases then squibble over the hard lined contract instilled by eBay in the interest of its own pocketbook.

Amazon wins for SELLERS because:
1. There’s no per product listing fee and it doesn’t cost you a penny until your product sells.
2. Amazon makes it easy to have a branded online store.
3. Blog authors can monetize their sites with loads of help from Amazon.
4. If have the digital rights to a book, you can make it available as an eBook on Amazon.com (eBay banned digital items March 31, 2008).
5. You can get a free 30-day trial to open your store!